The Thunder’s lost three in a row and staring a fourth straight in the face. Let’s be honest, I don’t think many of us have aspirations of winning this one. The Magic aren’t necessarily better than the Lakers, but it’s just a far worse matchup for Oklahoma City. And the thing about playing Orlando is that they can physically dominate you. Dwight Howard can and absolutely will own the paint tonight, but with their 3-point proficiency and inside-out ability, this is just bad match all around. I mean, how could you forget Howard’s triple-double last year in Oklahoma City?

OKC is a jumpshooting team with little to no post presence. Orlando is a jumpshooting, slash and kick team with a big time post presence. So if the jumpers aren’t falling for the Thunder, it could get ugly. There likely won’t be the bailout of Russell Westbrook driving the paint for buckets or counting on Kevin Durant to get points in the paint. OKC has to hit on all cylinders. Instead of trading off on good shooting nights, it would be nice if Nenad Krstic, KD, Westbrook and Jeff Green could all put it together.

THE MATCHUPSThere is one important one to me: Etan Thomas against Howard.Krstic might not even start tonight for all I know, because I’m sure Scott Brooks is planning on trying to use the much more physical Thomas on Howard. Thing is, Thomas is exactly the type of player that could get under Howard’s skin and take him out of his game. As always, I really like Thabo matching up with J.J. Redick, who is playing for the always injured Vince Carter. Redick wants to shoot and that plays into Thabo’s very long arms.

Mickael Pietrus is a solid defender than will guard Durant well, but Pietrus is also a threat to score. Plus, the always nasty Matt Barnes is waiting behind Pietrus. And Ryan Anderson – who is playing very well for the suspended Rashard Lewis, is hurt with a sprained ankle. So it’s Brandon Bass versus Jeff Green. Green actually has the advantage in the post and that might be somewhere OKC can look for points. Of course Howard will be waiting to crash and help, but since Uncle Jeff is a good passer, maybe the Thunder can find some easy dunks inside drawing and dishing.

The Magic normally have four guys in the starting five that can knock down open 3s, have great depth off the pine and of course, have Dwight Howard. Unless Kevin Durant goes nutszo tonight, I don’t have high hopes. But then again, just nine healthy bodies for the Magic… maybe there is some hope. Maybe I’m just thinking too much about last season’s domination. Thankfully though, after this OKC gets a few winnable games back on the docket.

Magic had Carter, Anderson and Lewis hurt. Clippers have Griffin on the bench. Kevin Martin and Garcia are injured for Sacramento. Tony Parker twisted an ankle tonight and could be out for up to a week.

Either the stars are aligning for the Thunder, or we're going to get a lot of grief for playing teams when they're not completely healthy. Either way, as long as we can win, I don't care.

i believe he was reffering to a certain part of the game when durant was in a groove and there werent very any offensive options on the floor. so a 2 or three times durant just drove and shot or drove and dished it out.

@The DONWhat a great and different year (though Houston still stings me particularly), we can actually feel favored in games and expect a win. Even against the scrub teams last year you didn't know what Thunder team was going to show up. This year, we are good enough to beat teams even on a sub-par day, and likewise good enough to beat great teams on a great day.

Crazy game, and really sad I couldn't see anything but the end of the 4th quarter (just got back into town). Someone earlier was talking about the Durant and everybody else show? Was it really that bad? Our offensive efficiency killed us last year because we played that way. Even in a win I don't want to learn that guys aren't playing as a team.

westbrook and durant are at +38 and +37 in the plus minus today... Thabo at +27...Nenad at +20.. Green at +17... props for you two people who called the thunder having a big game today because i certainly didnt!!